diff --git a/share/initialization/common b/share/initialization/common
index b9c48aa0..b3df7d8e 100644
--- a/share/initialization/common
+++ b/share/initialization/common
@@ -115,7 +115,8 @@ case $- in (*m*)
 esac
 
 # if the terminal supports color...
-if [ "$(tput colors 2>/dev/null || echo 0)" -ge 8 ]; then
+if [ "${COLORTERM-}" = "truecolor" ] || [ "${COLORTERM-}" = "24bit" ] || \
+  [ "$(tput colors 2>/dev/null || echo 0)" -ge 8 ]; then
 
   # make command output colorful
   if ls --color=auto -d / >/dev/null 2>&1; then